Smyrna times., 1887-03-30
A WIFES WORK.
JOE HOWARD, JR., TELLS THE STORY
OF A NEWSPAPERS SUCCESS.


The beginning of Big Business; a Quar-.
ter of a Century Ago-what Feminine
Brain and Brawn Helped to Accom-.
plish.
A newspaper helpmeet.
You know the New York Staats
Zeitung?
You know its magnificent granite build.
ing that stands on what was once known
as TyrOn row, now the base of CITY Hall
square at the bridge entrance, with
cellars and Outreaehings that extend at
least q hundred feet under the center
OF the street, with no more right there
than I would have in the Kingdom of
Heaven prior to the shuf1ing off my
mortal coil
Who owns it?
Oswald Ottendorfer and the heirs of
the late Mrs. OttenGorfer.
Perhaps you think OttendOrfer made
the Stats Zeitung, and coined the cash
which paid for that beautiful ornamental
tion?
Not much
Go back with me quarter of q century,
and in little cellar, q kind of black place
at that, look with me at a sturdy, stubby,
modest, driving, pushing, energetic
German named Uhl. See him set type.
See him justify it. See him put it on the
stone. See him put it in the form. See
him lock up the form and watch him as
he puts it on his hand press.
Does he work the press?
No, he doesn't.
But his wife works the press. A large,
Gr1o 1Co1rfv,rr
Oped head, n beautifully proportioned
body, and with intelligence written in
every line of her attractive face. She pulls
with brawny arm, she pushes with expand
ing muscle. She works hour after hour.
She takes from the press the dampened
sheet. She folds it. She sells it, and she
puts the cOppers in her pocket.
There they work day after day, night
after night
The place is dirty
The surroundings are unpleasant; the
work, rs we who are printers know. is not
lit for delicate fingers or glossy skins or
hne attire. TOiling day in or day out
working till the very dirt grimes the under
cuucle, these two helpmeets, hand in
hand, with common sweat pouring from
their bodies, laid the foundation for the
leading German newspaper of the United
States of America.
The normal result.
A great property?
Yes, now. Not then. Many and MANY
a time they wondered if the paper could
be got out. Many a time and oft they
saw the matter prepared and type set
and justified and in the form, without one
sheet Of paper dampened for the press:
out industry persevered in, economy prac-
heed and Il clever laid programme for cir
culatiOn followed out, led them on. sten
by step, until they reached the basement.
and then an upper floor, and then an
otner, until, finally, they occupied two
great buildings on Chatham row.
Morning nfter morning for months, for
years, for decades, Mrs. Uhl came down
town, sold the papers and carried the
literary money in her carpet bag to her
home.
She sold the papers, she took the cash.
she kept the books, she paid the bills and
she paid the balance Gradually thev
from the realm of poverty and
placed their foot on the solid rock of in
dependence
Then Uhl died and was gathered to his
fathers
And Mrs. Uhl?
Oh, sie married the bOOkkeeCa~. f,r /
when the old man died the property s;lr- |
Nyed, and Oswald Ottendorfer a tau |
handsome TeutOn who had been hired IN
lhe early days Of their prosperity. a gem
.leman, a man Of education, possible
factor iii politics, made love to the widow.
captured her fair, fat and 40 hand and |
ed her to the altar. The property ex-
banded, and when the Tweed ring burst
orth IN all its uproariOus roisterinrs in
ne city ITS patronage was given to The
otaats Zeltung as freely as to The Post.
commercial, Star and World. Later ON
'henomenally rich, Mrs. Ottendorfer who
iad been, with her husband, the founder
i The Stats Zeitung, died universally
espected, and with Il funeral procession
uch as rarely attends the obseCuies of n
rlvate citizen she was carried to Green
'ood cemetery and laid away with every
Of popular respect and profess
ional regard
Had it not been for her the Stoats
ieltung would never have existed
HAD 1t not been for her the great Ger
nan organ would never have obtained the
henomenal proportions it has TODAY
oe Howard in Cincinnati Enquirer.